When Rescue Lieutenant Andrew Sauer with the Nokesville Volunteer Fire Department started volunteering, he was aiming to do something unique, build a skillset and take on a challenge. Looking back, he notes he never realized just how much work goes into staffing an ambulance or fire engine.

By day, he’s an IT systems administrator for an IT firm in Woodbridge. Sauer also does part-time work at Jiffy Lube Live, providing medical services to thousands of concert-goers each season. Additionally, he puts his training to great use teaching in a paramedic training program and is working on his undergraduate degree. To say that he’s busy is quite the understatement.

Sauer has lived in the Bristow/Nokesville area for most of his life. In 2007 at the age of 18 he began volunteering, initially as a firefighter. He completed his initial firefighter training and went on to become an EMT and ultimately a paramedic.

Training That Becomes a Matter of Life and Death

Sauer has spent his full 10-year fire and rescue career with the Nokesville Volunteer Fire Department. However, throughout his training he’s had the opportunity to experience other stations.

“During my training as a paramedic, I did ride-alongs in almost every station in Prince William. I spent three months at Dumfries-Triangle during my Advanced Life Support internship on medic 523,” said Sauer.

Having the opportunity to serve and train at other stations allows volunteers to experience the differences that come with fire and EMS services in various areas of the county.

Throughout his 10 years of service, Sauer has learned an incredible amount through formal training and hands-on rescue experience.

“I had no idea that EMTs and paramedics were different,” he said, speaking of the time when he first started. “I thought an ambulance was a sort of emergency taxi, not a fully capable life support unit. I had no notion of how the emergency system worked. I think I, like everyone else I knew, just took it for granted that when I called 911, someone would come.”

Sauer, like most citizens, never considered just how much goes on behind the scenes of a fire and rescue department. It’s far more than most realize, he said. Volunteers are available 24/7 and go about their shifts with intention, always ensuring they are ready to respond at any time.

“Fire and rescue personnel spend their time in the station doing many things, from training to exercising, cooking meals, doing station chores, working on projects and even sleeping. But everything we do in the station is planned to be interrupted at a moment’s notice,” said Sauer.

Tune in later this month when we hear from Sauer what happens when a call comes in and how EMS and firefighting teams work seamlessly together to save lives.

Are you looking for a change? Here in Prince William County, the volunteer departments provide fire and emergency medical services to the County’s citizens and visitors during weekday evenings, weekends and holidays. Prince William County’s volunteer fire and rescue departments are seeking motivated individuals who have the desire to make a difference and provide an important service to their community. Learn more now.